Final Prep for the Worlds

After the long journey home I am now back in Victoria training. I have three weeks until I leave for the World Championships. It will be great to get a good block of training in as this has become a rare thing during the season with the heavy demands of our tournament schedule. Travelling seems to take more out of me than it used to (I must be getting old!) so my first few days of training will be fairly light and then it will build up after that. 

Also coming up I will be playing in the club championships! I will be competing in both the Men's and Women's event. Hopefully I will see some of you down at the club playing and watching!

After my first round victory I was lucky enough to have a rest day. Rest days occur when a round is split over two days. So, the top half would play one day and the bottom half the next.This is something that has happened over the last year or so, which has taken a little adjusting to. To begin with it was hard to know what was too much to do in a rest day and what was too little.  My rest day consisted of a n hours hit in the morning and then resting up for the remainder of the day for my match the following day.

The morning of my match I had a light hit on the glass court and then headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and rest in before I played. My opponent was Camille Serme from France. Camille and I have played a lot throughout juniors as we were the top two juniors in Europe at the time - unfortunately Camille came out victorious more often than I did! Camille is the current world number 5 and reigning British Open Champion. 

The first game saw Camille controlling the pace a lot more than me and keeping me on the back foot. I lost too many points at the start of the game to recover even though the back half of the game was a lot more positive for me. I lost the first game 11-5. In the second I took an 8-5 lead after having had advice from national coach Chris Robertson. I stepped up the court and was looking to get onto the ball quicker and try to control the middle myself. Unfortunately I couldn't keep the momentum up and lost that game 11-8. The third was much like the first game and I lost a disappointing 11-3. 

It really is a case of getting used to playing on the glass and against the top 5 more often. There were lots of positives to take from the match and in patches I felt that I showed I can compete with the top girls. 

Next is the long journey home - the slightly less glamour-less side you might say! 

Awesome shot at 0:50 seconds into the highlight reel!